Kick the brown bag: Our favorite new way to bring your lunch

Move over mason jars, there's a new kid in town - and he's fun, all right.

Let me introduce you to the bento box. Traditionally used in the Japanese culture to hold rice, meat or fish, and veggies, the bento box is the perfect container to bring your lunch (and snacks!) to work each day. Sure, you could just use a Ziploc bag or Tupperware, but with absolutely no extra effort, you can create a lunch that you'll actually be excited to open up and dig into.

Best of all? You really can make one of these adult Lunchables with anything you have on hand. To get you started, I've created three tasty bento lunches from ingredients I had at home in my pantry and fridge so you can see how easy it is. Then, I've included some additional suggestions below for other easy to mix-and-match bento ingredients.